The Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Eleven days after the British commenced their invasion of Zululand in South Africa, a Zulu force of some 20,000 warriors attacked a portion of the British main column consisting of about 1,800 British, colonial and native troops and perhaps 400 civilians.[11] The Zulus were equipped mainly with the traditional assegai iron spears, iklwa and cow-hide shields,[12] but also had a number of muskets and old rifles[13] though they were not formally trained in their use.[14] The British and colonial troops were armed with the state-of-the-art[15] Martini-Henry breech-loading rifle and two 7 pounder artillery pieces as well as a rocket battery. Despite a vast disadvantage in weapons technology,[16] the numerically superior Zulus ultimately overwhelmed the poorly led and badly deployed[17] British, killing over 1,300 troops, including all those out on the forward firing line. The Zulu army suffered around a thousand killed.[18]

The battle was a crushing victory for the Zulus and caused the defeat of the first British invasion of Zululand.[19] The British Army had suffered its worst defeat against a technologically inferior indigenous force.[20] However, Isandlwana resulted in the British taking a much more aggressive approach in the Anglo-Zulu War, leading to a heavily reinforced second invasion[21] and the destruction of King Cetshwayo's hopes of a negotiated peace.[22]